Convert Your Home Memories from VHS Tapes to DVDS

Most Hubbers who have seen me around the Hubpages community know how much I love Christmas. So it may be no surprise when I say how much my Christmas VHS tapes mean to me.

They are tapes that my mom recorded when my brother and I were kids, about 20 years ago, of holiday videos that I will never forget. These are shows including "Charlie Brown Christmas", "Garfield Christmas", "Looney Toons Christmas", and other shows that they don't air anymore and that you can't find on DVD. My family watches them every year, and to me it's not Christmas without viewing them.

With that said, I knew that I needed to have them converted to DVD. VHS tapes certainly don't last forever, and there are only so many times the videotape unwinds and gets stuck in the VCR before it's kaput. My Christmas tapes are 20 years old! And let's face it, VCRs are not selling the way they used to.

Also, people have home videos of precious moments including baby's first steps, family events, and other priceless memories that are worth saving.

Thankfully, there are a different ways to preserve your special VHS memories onto DVD so that you can continue watching them into the future and store them more easily. Once they're on DVD, you can also burn them and share them with others and store the files digitally.

• Buy a conversion unit, VHS to DVD converter combination, software and video capture devices, or adapter so you can do it yourself. Do some research to see which is best for you. The combinations are more expensive but could be a better option if you have a lot of tapes to convert. Some product examples are below. I like to browse through Google Products or Amazon to see what is available.
• Use a service. There are local businesses that will do this conversion for you. You can Yelp different companies to see which are best at this.
  
  There are also companies (like YesVideo) that allow you to mail in your tapes so they can send you the DVDs back. Costco does these conversions at a rate of about $17.99 for two hours of video, and they mail your tapes out from their storefront to be converted. I admit that I would be afraid that the tapes would get lost in the mail if I tried this, though I feel that Costco would probably be reliable enough.
  
  Keep in mind that if you use these services, they will most likely not convert any commercial tapes that you have - only home videos. They wouldn't convert my Christmas tapes for that reason.
  
  If you use Groupon, they frequently have deals either for software or for conversion services, so keep your eye out.
• Phone a friend! This is what I did. He had a VHS to DVD converter combination and was able to convert three of my Christmas tapes quickly and easily... and free!

Good luck converting your VHS tapes to DVD. It is worth the effort!